Fork Freezes in cold weather....

P

phathucker

New Member
so this is the second or third time Ive went on a ride in below 30 degree weather. (My fork is a manitou stance flow, nothing special.) Freezes up to the point where its practically doesnt work. After putting it into the garage it warms up and works fine.

Is there any way to prevent this? A thinner oil perhaps? or maybe a heat blanket before the ride? or whispering sweet nothings to it?

Do more expensive forks do this? is this a problem of quality?


Hitting a park with heavy terrain with no front suspension kills my wrists....

Thanks
 
Sounds to me like you got water inside fork lowers not good. Do you hose your bike if so you may have passed water through the seals. Just a guess but reasonable one...
 
phathucker said:
Do more expensive forks do this? is this a problem of quality?
Click to expand...

Hey phathucker... sorry to hear about your problem. I can't speak about whether you need a new fork or just service. But I can tell you my fox float has been out in the low teens for several hours with no issues. It does get a little stiffer than when riding in warmer climate but its normal.
 
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Mine freezes too on my commuter bike - it is elastomer fork means a piece of rubber acting like a spring . this rubber becomes stiff below 35 F .
When this happens, I keep riding and thinking on some riders her that are stuck with rigid fork all year long…
 
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You may have water in the fork. With low temps your fork should be softer as air pressure drops with colder temps.
 
Save your expensive bikes....

If you ride a hardtail, swap out the shock fork for a rigid fork (if only for the winter). And if you ride full-sus go get yourself a hardtail (not trying to be smug). But surely there's an old beater you can find... Preserve your $3000 bike... let your beater take the abuse. Eliminate or minimize the moving parts that are susceptible to the cold, snow and muck.

I originally started riding a rigid JUST for the winter after having some serious fork woes in the cold and muck... along with the maintenance and overhaul headaches.... fogettabout... Nothing worse than shock failure in the winter.
 
i changed the oil and it works great now! thanks for the advice, the old oil had water in it and it was so dirty it looked like mud.
 
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